Football and Cookies

So this past week I worked a grand total of 2 days because of...well, let's just call it a series of unfortunate events. Tuesday and Saturday I had scheduled off and Wednesday through Friday I was forced to call in sick. It was awesome...except not. I was quite bored the vast majority of the time, sitting around in my apartment having nothing to do and barely able to walk. I'm crossing my fingers that I never have to do that again while I'm here, because on top of actually missing being at work, my paycheck is basically nonexistent this week. :/

Ok so there's the negativity of the week. Moving on from that. :) Now, usually my off days are Tuesday and Wednesday...that's my weekend. A while ago, though, I put in a request to have Saturday the 13th off. Everyone who reads this will probably judge me, but that's ok...I asked off so on Saturday I would be free to watch the Red River Rivalry (which also happened to be the first football game I've really gotten to watch since this season started!) So Saturday rolls around and I go to Chris's apartment to watch the most beautiful game of football I've seen in quite a long time. :) (Side note--BOOMER SOONER!) And while I was watching that game, I also got to bake some DELICIOUS pumpkin cookies!!

Now, I might be a little obsessed with these cookies...they are the absolute easiest things to make and they are so moist and wonderful and delicious...I wish it was acceptable to eat these year-round, but I'm a very big supporter of leaving things that belong in certain seasons within that season...so Christmas music doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving, wearing pastels stays in the Spring months, and these pumpkin cookies don't get baked until Fall is announced. :) There's just something about having one of these cookies with a glass of milk for a nice snack, or break from homework...or breakfast...is that too much? *guilty look*

So since my second favorite season has officially begun, I made the cookies!!! And now I am going to share the simple and splendid recipe with all 2 of you who read this. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (With Cream Cheese Icing)

COOKIE:

Ingredients:
1 package spice cake mix (18.25 0z)
1 can pure pumpkin (15 oz)
1/2 to 1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
makes about 2 dozen cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix and pumpkin until well blended, and then add in the chocolate chips.
 

Mmmm...tasty dough. :)

Using a spoon, drop dough in dollops onto a greased cookie sheet, leaving a bit of room between each cookie. (This dough doesn't rise much so you don't need to worry too terribly about the cookies spreading...they basically maintain their shape.)
Bake them for about 18 to 20 minutes in the pre-heated oven.  (I rotate the pan every 5 minutes but you don't have to...I only do that because I was scarred in my old apartment by a terrible oven...one half of the trey of cookies were burned and the other half wasn't even done cooking. It was awful. And very confusing...)

Here is a picture of a trey of the cookies straight out of the oven. Seriously, they don't change their shape much at all, it's kind of fun. :) After they're out, just leave them to cool for a few minutes and then they're ready to be iced!

ICING:

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the powdered sugar.

It is THAT simple.  Don't ice all of the cookies at once, just the ones you plan on eating, and store the leftover icing in the fridge until you need it later.

And that's it, that's the recipe for possibly my favorite cookie in all the world...in fact, I think I would like to have one right now! Mmmmmm. :D :D

I'm carving a pumpkin tomorrow that I bought today at a cute little Baptist Church's pumpkin patch. Hopefully when I'm done it will look like Stitch, but plans could change...or I could fail. I'm excited, though, it's been a long time since I last carved a pumpkin!

Cookie time. :)

Courtney

P.S. Holy cow...2 blogs within the span of a week. I can't even believe it! I hope no one gets used to this...